covertmetaphor:
yes they are indeed quite good and useful, even if he did sometimes fall into a "rivalry" mentality when citing his contemporaries. Today it is much easier to get to the root of the practices, too, as more recent authors have much commented and clarified (without dumbing down) his exposition.
Personally, once i finally got past the mind-block brought on by the never-ending torrent of vilification his figure is still subject to, i found his expositions to be wonderfully informative, prejudice-busting and yes, even uplifting. He also may not have been as great a poet as he liked to consider himself, but some of his work (and not referring to just the holy books here) is really inspirational.
I feel that, as with so many other things, the misconception is enforced by those factions that would keep folks chasing their tails instead of making progress. Certainly much of the noise comes from misinformed people with good intentions, repeating what they've heard... but the volume of positive material now out there and easily available, in my opinion, counterbalances and even exceeds the original slanders.
Therefore the fact that the mud is still thick on his name i think is part of the usual fare from TPTB, or the "Black Brotherhood" as the Old Sinner would have put it.
Whether one adopts his cosmogony, philosophy, and the specific A.'. A.'. practical curriculum or not, his essays and his complilation of data from comparative religion alone are worth reading for any sincere seeker.
Making sure people are put off, or even afraid to have a look-see at what he was on about is undoubtedly a great victory in obfuscation on the part of the forces of ignorance.
One thing can be said though... by getting such a scandalously bad reputation he indeed insured that now, 60 years on from his death, people are still talking about him. Personally though, i think that was only half-planned at best, at least as far a conscious planning on the part of the Man. :-)
Love is the law, love under will.
Zejith Themis
.:420-510:.
FIAT IUSTITIA
RUAT COELUM